Before Death
by lucky7steph
Summary: A little background story on how Stephanie became a shinigami. Mostly fluff/filler featuring William and Grell too! Prequel to After Life
1. Author's Note and Prologue

**_Author's Note: Hello all! This is the Prequel to my other story, After Death. It is just mainly some short filler chapters that I thought would help establish some background. I'll upload all chapters tonight so I hope you enjoy! _**

_Prologue_

The start of it all.

The calm before the storm.

All was not lost…

Yet.


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

She would show him. Nothing was stopping her from entering those doors. The large glass ones leading up to her brothers place of work and his most treasured office.

Despite being told her entire life that this would be her most important job, the only one that mattered, what she had waited and grown up wanting all of these years… she was still nervous.

She let out a shaky sigh and pushed the big steel frame of the transparent glass door in front of her.

Almost instantaneously she was met with a bustling, noisy, chaotic environment. Phones were ringing off the hook and it seemed that everyone had too much work to be doing.

_This is where I'll be working from now on_, the girl thought, readjusting her ponytail, tied neatly up with a dark green ribbon.

She walked confidently toward the central reception desk, taking notice of a woman managing two phones at once. The woman behind the desk took notice of her, finished up her current call, and put another two on hold before turning back to her.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, I'm here to see William T. Spears, could you let him know I'm on my way?"

"And who may I ask are you?" the receptionist asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Stephanie O. Spears… his sister."

As Stephanie stood outside her brother's office, she sighed. She and William were surprisingly close siblings, despite the fact that the two had moved out and gone their separate ways after Will had become a shinigami.

It had been Stephanie's dream to follow in her older brother's footsteps, although people doubted her ability to succeed as efficiently as him. In terms of personality, the two were remarkably similar, both were determined and hard-working, never letting anything seem to get in the way of them achieving what they wanted.

Perhaps it was their mutual hatred of failure, and yearning for perfection that drove them to be the best they could in all aspects of life.

William hadn't been so sure that Stephanie was ready to handle being a reaper, yet knew that he would not be able to dissuade his sister if she had already gotten the thought into her mind. They had both grown up average lives, from a long line of shinigami. See, most people on earth were unaware of the shinigami realm, which was actually comprised of quite a bit of people, not just the reapers themselves. There were a variety of jobs dealing with the management of the lives of the still-living, as well as the cleanup after those that had died. It was a reaper's job to make a judgment of whether a soul was fit to continue living, and if not, they would be given the somewhat exhilarating task of taking that life away and sending it to its corresponding fate.

Many other jobs existed on the sidelines though. There were those that oversaw and catalogued death records in the library. Others meticulously copied records and reports of all souls ever collected. Still others were needed to teach and train future shinigami to continue their legacy.

It was rare to see many female shinigami, as the job wasn't suited for the faint of heart. Not to say that women weren't capable of doing just as good of a job as the men, however they typically would get filing or secretarial work.

Not Stephanie.

She was determined to reach for the highest peak, and would settle for nothing less.

So when she turned the knob to her brother's office and met his eyes with a playful smirk, he already knew what she was going to say.

"I'm here for my training. When do I start?"


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

Stephanie gazed at her brother, her hopeful yellow-green eyes meeting his identical, though cold ones.

Just as William was about to speak a face popped into the doorway behind Stephanie who still hadn't fully entered the office.

"Ooooh! Who is this? Has William got himself a new girlfriend?" came a high pitched voice of a _man_…? Behind Stephanie, the elder Spears gave a frustrated sigh before adjusting his glasses and giving a stern reply.

"Grell Sutcliff, I suggest you refrain from annoying me today, I have a lot to discuss with my _sister_," he said, emphasizing the relation between himself and his sister in the room and Grell gave a shock of surprise.

"YOU'RE WILL'S SISTER?! I've heard about you! He barely shut up about you during our training, kept on mentioning all of the things he was going to have to teach you and- UGH!" Grell gave out a very inhuman-like sound as Will smacked the top of his head with a very heavy binder.

Stephanie took the opportunity to size up the newcomer. The person whom she had now determined to be a man, was dressed almost completely in red, matching his own red hair. It looked as if he was attempting to grow it out, as it was at an awkward length below the shoulder, initially making the girl question his gender.

He seemed harmless, but she knew better than to judge a reaper's skills based on looks alone.

As she thought more about him it finally clicked to her. _This was Will's partner!_ She remembered him mentioning a loud, obnoxious, red head that he always had to deal with, and it sounded an awful lot like the man she was staring down at now.

"Excuse his interruption. Unfortunately I must continue to put up with his antics, one of my more aggravating responsibilities," her brother said, coming over to Stephanie.

"So, you're finally ready to become a reaper? It won't be easy Steph, I'll tell you that right now, but I don't doubt that you'd do a great job," he said reassuringly.

"I'm sure Will. I've wanted this so badly, and this is my chance. Uh, is he going to be okay?" she asked gesturing to the feminine reaper still twitching on the floor.

"Yes, sadly. Be thankful he's not going to be _your_ training partner," Will said, looking down at his former partner.

"Heeeyyy! I was a great partner! In fact, we both know that I had better marks than you William!" pouted Grell.

"Um, I'm sorry, but I didn't introduce myself. Here," said Stephanie, extending a hand to help the older man up off of the floor. "My name is Stephanie O. Spears, Will's sister, if you hadn't already gathered that," she smiled.

Grell took the hand and proceeded to jump her in a bone-crushing hug, "OHHH! You're so adorable! Now I see the resemblance between you two! Although you seem much more fun that that stick in the mud over there," he said gesturing over to her brother as his arm remained slung over her shoulder.

"Get off my sister!" Will raised his voice slightly, shoving Grell away and Stephanie couldn't help but giggle softly at her brother and his protectiveness. He had always been so serious, and never really showed much emotion unless he was around her. She could already tell how much fun this was going to be, seeing just how far she could push her brother's buttons.


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

"William darling, don't worry so much! Little Stephy is going to be just fine!" Grell said, attempting to reassure the older brother who was currently in his office, doing paperwork on overtime.

The elder Spears sibling did not display any outward signs of stress, but inside he was extremely anxious. Today was the last day for reaping assignments. Stephanie and her partner, a young man whom he didn't know too much about, had been sent to evaluate the life of one of their targets, the last test before becoming a full-fledged shinigami.

When he thought back to his own assignment with Grell, he couldn't help but worry for her. Back in the day, when the redheaded reaper and himself had only been trainees, he knew how much they argued and fought, almost compromising their mission. He could only hope that his sister would be able to make a well thought out judgment and pass.

He sighed and continued to work on meaningless reports, just to pass the time and take his mind off of her.

"Sutcliff, you know you don't have to stay here, your workday ended about an hour ago," said William, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Grell looked sympathetically at his friend, "Well…" he said, nervously pushing his fingers together, "I'm worried about her too! Let me stay here and help you Will! Pleeeeaase!"

Will looked up from his papers and nodded, "If that's what you wish, be my guest, just do a thorough job," he said with a blank expression.

Grell smiled and nodded, before grabbing a stack of reports to look over.

Stephanie wiped a few specks of blood off of her face with a black gloved hand, admiring the work before her.

Her partner, Henry Robertson smiled down at her and gave her a hand to help her up. She accepted and stood up, while Henry recorded the details and time of the death.

They both stood over their mark, a man in his forties that had abandoned his children when they were young, and abused his wife. He had acquired quite a large gambling debt, and had a horrible drinking problem. Their case had been ridiculously easy, and it wasn't hard to see that the man had next to nothing to contribute to society. In other words, it was his time to die, and he was leaving behind a fairly worthless life.

Henry and Stephanie had taken the allotted amount of time to make their judgment, but both had been in constant agreement as to where their case was heading.

"Well Spears, it looks like we've completed our job," Henry said giving the girl a smile. "I still can't believe your brother is the William T. Spears. Honestly, the guy kind of scares me."

Stephanie laughed and readjusted the plain frames of her training glasses, "Yeah, he tends to do that. He better watch his back though, because now he'll have another Spears to contend with," she said, smirking.

As she observed her partner, she had to breathe a sigh of relief at how lucky she had been throughout their training process. From the beginning, the two had been partnered up randomly, and had become quick friends. Many training partners butted heads due to their desire to be the best and get an edge over their fellow trainees. Stephanie and Henry made a great team and worked together in everything they did. Henry made up for Stephanie's weak practical, written test scores, while she dominated in the physical and combative aspects of the training. They both used their strengths to their advantage and helped the other when they needed it. Stephanie had remembered Grell telling her a few of his and William's own horror stories throughout her training period, which made her laugh. She may not yet be as skilled a shinigami as her brother, but she was sure that she had a better training record than him, which made her smile.

"It's been a pleasure training with you Steph," said William, offering her a hand to shake, which she accepted.

"Likewise Henry, now let's go home."

"Robertson, Spears!" came the voice of their instructor and the two walked forward confidently.

"Pass," came the simple one-word reply of the older shinigami who handed them their graduation degrees, and a copy of the rules and handbook.

"You two should report immediately to schedule a fitting for your new glasses and put in requests for your new death scythe as you can no longer use the training blades," the instructor drawled on, bored. "If you have any questions please report to a superior, have a nice day, and congratulations," his tone of voice contradicting the words that he spoke.

Stephanie and Henry could barely contain their excitement, but kept stoic looks on their faces, nodding after they were dismissed.

It wasn't until after they exited the office that they gave each other a sentimental hug and high five.

"We did it! Thank god that's over, now the real job begins!" said Henry enthusiastically.

"Hey, what do you say we head over to get our new glasses? I can't wait to get rid of these dull, boring ones," Stephanie joked, making a disgusted face at the trainee glasses.

"Uh… actually I was going to meet up with a friend of mine, Ronald Knox. He's going to sign up for the next training session and I told him I'd let him know when I passed. He's kind of like a younger brother to me. Sorry Steph," he said shrugging his shoulders and smiling nervously.

"Oh, no problem!" Stephanie said, still excited to begin her new job and get the official shinigami accessories. "I should probably let my brother know too, I'm sure he's been worried," she laughed.

"I'll see you around Steph, maybe we'll be partnered together again," said Henry, giving her a friendly wave.

"Sure, Henry! Tell your friend Ronald I said hi!" she said before he turned around giving her a laugh.

"Yeah right! Once he knows you're a girl, _and_ a shinigami, he'll never leave you alone!"

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!"


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

Stephanie took a deep breath and pushed open the door to her brother's office only to find both William and Grell fast asleep.

Will was leaning his head against his forearm, which was resting on top of his desk. Grell was drooling on a stack of papers and his red framed glasses were askew on his face.

She had to laugh at the sight, and only wished that she had brought along a camera to capture the moment.

"Ahem," she coughed loudly, which jolted her brother out of sleep instantaneously.

He looked around regaining his senses and proceeded to slap the red headed shinigami on his desk awake. Grell shrieked and rubbed his cheek.

"Williammm! What was that for?" he whined before noticing Stephanie in the doorway. "Oh! Stephy you're back already!"

"I told you to wake me up if I fell asleep idiot" sighed William frustrated.

"But Willlll! I was tired after working on all that paperwork!" Grell whined on, getting up and stretching before jumping over to Stephanie.

"You barely finished one report," Will grumbled quietly.

"So, did you pass? How was it?" Grell exclaimed excitedly.

"Of course she passed," interrupted William, before pointing to her face.

Grell trailed the pathway of his finger and his eyes came to rest on Stephanie's.

"Ooohh nice frames! They're new! No more training glasses! I knew you could do it honey!" he beamed, taking the glasses off of her face and examining them.

Stephanie smirked and saw her brother give a small smile. She had earned the trademark shinigami glasses, meaning she had succeeded in passing her training exam. Her glasses had been made that same day, and were of a similar rectangular shape to her brother's. Hers however, sported small green lines on the sides, showing off her favorite color.

"I'm glad you like them Grell, but, can I have them back now? I can barely see a thing," she laughed.

He brushed her bangs to the side and gently placed the delicate frames back on her face, resting perfectly on her ears and nose. "Oh we should all go celebrate now!" he said, enthusiastically, "I know this great bar just a couple of blocks away from here, they make the best drinks!"

"Sutcliff, you know I don't approve of you drinking on work nights," stated William flatly.

"Oh come on Will!" the redhead whined.

"Actually I think my training partner was going to a bar to meet some friends tonight," mused Stephanie, which earned a gleeful squeal from Grell.

"See? The more the merrier right?" he said, raising his eyebrows and looking hopefully to the elder Spears.

"You two can go, but I'm going to stay here and finish up these reports," Will sighed, before picking up right where he had obviously left off.

Grell pouted and left, saying something like, "You're no fun," as Stephanie lingered in the office.

She smiled sadly at her brother, always the diligent, hard-worker.

"I could stay and help you finish if you'd like," she offered, leaning against his desk.

"No. Just… go out and have fun. Enjoy your night, because tomorrow you'll have your own work to deal with," he said, looking up at her, giving a small smile.

"Will, I really want to thank you, for everything. You've been the greatest older brother I could ever hope to have, and…you're the reason I wanted to become a shinigami. If it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't have made it," she said shyly.

William did something rare, that one wouldn't normally witness around the usually stoic and emotionless shinigami. He embraced his younger sister in a hug and truly smiled.

"You could have done it on your own Steph. You've always been strong-willed and stubborn," he said, pulling away and looking her in the eyes, "Just don't stay out too late alright? And no more than two drinks, you hear me?" he said sternly, while hiding a smirk that threatened to emerge.

She chuckled and responded sarcastically, "Yes_ father_," before standing up and giving her brother a quick kiss on the cheek and running out to catch up with Grell.

The moment between the siblings was short and rare, but extremely heartfelt. No one would guess how close the two actually were. It seemed that the two youngest Spears children would successfully continue to uphold their shinigami family legacy. Although William knew that Stephanie was just as skilled as himself, he knew in his heart that there would never be a day when he would stop worrying about her. He would protect his little sister forever because she was the one thing that he truly cared about and the one thing that made him smile.

Well, besides finishing his work early.


	6. Chapter 5 EXTRA!

_EXTRA!__ Chapter 5_

Stephanie sighed as she looked for Grell in the crowded bar. She should have suspected it would have been a mad house, since almost every new reaper was there celebrating passing their exams. She supposed the ones that didn't pass might be there as well, drowning out their disappointment. It had been fun hanging out with her fellow classmates, yet now she found herself stuck with the responsibility of looking after the immature red headed shinigami.

_Focus! You need to find him. _

All of a sudden she heard a shrill shriek to her left and whipped her head around to stare at a peculiar sight.

There was the one and only Grell Sutcliff currently fawning over a golden and dark haired young boy. She groaned hearing his slurred high-pitched voice, "Aren't you the cutest thing!" he uttered, leaning all over the poor kid.

"Ok, I think it's time for someone to go home!" she said yanking Grell off of the boy.

"My apologies for his behavior. I hope he didn't cause you too much trouble," Stephanie said hopefully at the kid, while turning to glare at Grell which made him whimper a bit.

"Eeeh! You look just like Willll when you're angryyy!" he drawled before passing out on the stool.

"Wait, Will as in William T. Spears? Oh man, you're his sister aren't you?" the younger boy laughed as he continued, "Henry was telling me about you! You're like the first female shinigami in years! Pretty legendary huh? Nice to meet you, my name's Ronald Knox, oh, and no harm done earlier. That one has been pretty plastered all night," he finished, gesturing to Grell.

"Nice to meet you Ronald. Henry told me about you too. I hear you're signing up for the next class huh? Aren't you a little young to be a reaper? What are you like fifteen?" she joked, feeling more outspoken due to the allotted two drinks she had been allowed to have.

"Nah I just look young for my age," he replied, flashing a cocky grin. "I'm really 22."

She was surprised as he did in fact look a lot younger. "Well, good luck Knox, you're gonna need it. Who knows, maybe someday we'll be partners?" she laughed before struggling to get the unconscious Grell off the stool, heaving him onto her shoulders. Fortunately, he weighed next to nothing, but in her semi-tipsy state, she was having some trouble.

"Hey Steph, you need help with that?" questioned Ronald. "I could help you take him home," he offered genuinely.

The bespectacled girl turned back, "Actually… yeah thanks. I can't really manage this by myself can I?" she chuckled.

He smiled giving her a hand and leaned in toward her, "Hey, it looks like we're becoming partners faster than expected."

She laughed and raised an eyebrow before whispering back, "You wish."


End file.
